We Are Not Just Machines
by Cordogg
Summary: 2007 Movieverse; several animatronic characters come alive on the set when no one is around, yet none know why or what their purpose is. And one man's life changes as drastically as theirs.
1. Mock Me

**This story is around 4 movieverse characters as their robot props on the set of filming Transformers. The film is in its final stages and four animatronic robot props come alive and **

**witness events. They have secretly seen the end result of the 2007 movie. They come to life only when the crew has gone home, save for one employee seen as a misfit by his **

**co workers.**

"Haaaaaa-haaaaa-ha-ha-hawwwwwww! Barricade"s roaring laughs were so loud he woke everyone else in the prop studio set up. He had gotten hold of Starscream's concept art layout

and was having a field day. "Primus, Starscream, you look like shit. The ILM team really did you a job. They didn't even bother to finish that hole in your face. In robot mode your mouth

looks like it failed to mold together! You look like you got a cleft palate!" "To pit with you Barricade. You're no hot piece of work either. At least I didn't get my after burners

kicked by an autobot like you did." Starscream, who was already up, stormed in. Barricade knew it was a double-standard to ridicule others while taking offense to insults directed at him,

even when said "insults" were meant to be jokes. But pride meant everything to him, so it was no shock to the other when he had the gall to take offense with this. "I didn't write the

script! It wasn't my idea to get my ass kicked by that puny yellow excuse for a robot! I will have words with Bay-trust me." "And how do you plan to accomplish this when you're

supposed to be an inanimate object built in a shed as an animatronic prop effect?" Starscream jibed. "Be quiet." Barricade grumbled. "At least I have sexy eyes in that one scene

where I meet Megatron at the dam." Starscream rewound the tape to the Hoover Dam scene where he told Megatron about the humans taking the cube. He slowed it down

frame-by-frame to show him squinting his blood-optics into slits, what he interpreted as a sultry stare aimed at female moviegoers. "How could any femme resist me? Even the human

femme will be hypnotized by my illustrious glare. Just LOOK at those eyes. They say "Sparkbond with me." You're depraved." Barricade sulked as he motioned past. "Starscream do

you REALLY think your face looks that good? Yours was the worst design out of all of us!."

The two turned to see Bumblebee standing there. "Take that back!" the seeker demmanded. "Your legs, your too-wide chest; you look like a gigantic metal chicken. Your knees

don't even point the right way! You must have really been hated to have been drawn like that..." "I'm warning you," Starscream advanced up on the small yellow bot. "Save it,

he's not even worth the bother." Barricade grabbed his air commander's arm. The sight of the autobot made Barricade simmer with hatred at the fact that this worthless bolt

ripped him a new one in the final movie. And here he stood, "Bumblebee" with his "cute little face" and yellow aft, his face plates gleaming. And doeful expressive eyes. Damn him.

Barricade knew he could well tear Bumblebee apart in real life, but on the big screen he was mangled by this cursed autobot. Fantasy it was but it still rubbed the saleen sorely.

"At least I HAVE a face, autobot. Look at you; half of yours is missing. You look like whoever came up with your concept got tired of drawing your face. Plus your mouth-when you

can see it it's too high up!" Starscream mocked with a broad smile and Barricade began to laugh. Now it was Bee's turn to get uncomfortable. He began to wonder, did someone really

get tired of drawing him and creating him so he/she left his face unfinished? "A sparkling-faced bot who looks like he should take off and flap those stupid doorwings and fly everytime

he speaks." Barricade added. "That would be comical, to see you flying through the air with fast flapping doorwings instead of running. You truly would live up to your name

Bumblebee." the slurs continued. Bumblebee's nimble fingers reached up to his cheek plate, subconsciously feeling the outline of his upside down v-shaped mouth. "Lighten up,

runt! Weуre only teasing." Starscream bent down to put an arm around Bumblebee.

But it was of no comfort. "No, you're right. I'm supposed to be a warrior! A full-fledged autobot soldier! Why did they make my face like this? Everyone else looks mature!

It's no fair!" he wailed, backing away. "Whoa, Bee bot calm down; it's not that serious!" Barricade tried to seriously appease him. "NO! It's no fair!" the autobot tore out of t

he room , shouldering Ironhide who just came in. He turned to the two decepticons. "What's that all about?" "Heуs really bothered by his face not being completed." Starscream

muttered. "That's how the movie designers drew him." Ironhide commented. "To be cute to the masses, whatever that means. At least he doesn't look like me. I just look like a

big pile of scrap metal sloppily welded together. With a big flat nose." "But your alt mode did you justice." Barricade spoke in his usual, deep menacing tone. But he was being

sincere. "But you ARE ugly." "You look no better!" Ironhide retorted flippantly, his left arm cannon spinning in irritation. "FOUR EYES. At least the rest of us have two eyes,

like normal bots!" "I DO NOT HAVE FOUR EYES!" Barricade thundered. "They"re two optics with bars running across each one!" Starscream watched the exchange in amazement.

"I'm tired of everybody declaring I have four optics! I hear crewmen debating it during the day, the artists who worked on me debate it! People who come in here and get on

the internet blogging about it! I'm sick of it!" Barricade went completely ballistic, so much so, that Ironhide had to take a step back. "It's just a—t's nothing..." "It's nothing?

YOU SAY IT'S NOTHING? WELL IT IS SOMETHING TO ME!" Barricade had backed a baffled Ironhide into the wall and was right on him. Now he began to hiss in a crazed whisper.

"You think I don't know what's going on? This is a conspiracy. First the humans who designed me and now all of YOU. You all are trying to drive me mad by taunting my eyes!

Well I've got news for you you walking pile of steel. Yes-you DO look like a big pile of metal, so many parts you look like you'll FALL APART when you walk." he growled in

Ironhide's audio. "It was just a joke—!"

Ironhide vainly attempted to prove his innocence. Even Starscream was now trying to appease the overreacting saleen. "Barricade you're overreacting." "AM I? YOU THINK I

DON'T KNOW? HAVEN'T SEEN? If you think Iуm overreacting then, **FUCK YOU**!" "Ba—!" "SHUT UP! Barricade turned to face the topkick. "You don't see what is going on? We

are being made fools in that movie! And I'm constantly forced to defend the appearance of my optics and that foul meatbag that wrote this script made it where I got my aft

handed to me by a puny "autobot"! You all are in on this—I know it!" Barricade stormed out. Leaving two very puzzled mechs behind. "It's 3:30 am. The first post production

crew will be in here in a few hours. Barricade can't be running about when they get here; we're supposed to be animatronic sculptures." Ironhide recommended. Starscream sighed.


	2. Tantrum BarricadeStyle

Barricade was upset. No, he was pissed. In fact, he was livid. Since he was created in the special effects workshop he had to endure the relentless barrage of his human creators arguing

over the strangeness of his eyes. Then stupid fleshies hanging around who had absolutely nothing to do with the movie were debating his eyes. He really wanted to believe he had

one set of eyes. He also knew that insulting the other stage prop bots was wrong. The truth was, it made him feel better to insult the others, made him believe that he didn't look as bad

as he felt he did. He stormed down the hall, intending to smash his way through the front door or the studio and out into the open world. He charged shoulder-first into the opening of

the small 4-ft wide human door-and went no further. Optics flashed various shades of red to pink, threatening to shut off at the sick whining of gears in his chest straining against

the confines of the door. To his chagrin, he realized he was stuck and unbeknownst to him, he was not as strong as the Bay film depicted him. His top half was wedged out of the

door facing what looked like a junkyard prop while his bottom half, from the chest area down was leaning at a angle inside, his clawed feet loudly scraping the tile floor. Ironhide

and Starscream came thundering in, Starscream's size alone jolting everything in sight not bolted down. Both mechs had their hands over their audio components with

Starscream's ragged teeth turned up in an agonizing scowl. The horrid screeching of the saleen's feet raking the floor was the human equivalent of someone scratching their fingernails

against a chalkboard. Barricade couldn't hear their pleas being drowned out by his shameless fury, his face etched in an incredible roar of frustration.

"For the love of Prime Barricade STOP IT!" Ironhide's wails finally snapped him to reality. Barricade looked at him. The boorish-looking autobot was standing there his wide nostrils

flaring with each mechanical exhale/inhale from the screeching discomfort of earlier. "Leave me be, autobot!" "No, you have to come back with us now! "Barricade instinctively tried

to swing around to wail on Ironhide, only to discover once again his stuck predicament. He couldn't even so much as budge to turn his head around to face him. The closest he could get

to Ironhide or Starscream was turning his head a pathetic several inches to the right, and even so, his only field of view was a parked pontiac solstice a few feet away. In the movie

he had enormous strength, and now, he felt small and weak. Ironhide made a grab for him. "Come on, you!" "I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!". Barricade went to kick at him when everything

went black. Barricade woke up, moaning. As his optics shuttered to life, he was able to make out that he was once again in the effects prop room, sitting in a corner like a string

puppet. Ironhide was out cold and was on what looked like a large metal table of some sort. There was something even more strange..the lower half of his body was completely gone.

Starscream was in another corner, standing fully erect, and groggily coming to. Bumblebee was wide awake, looking around in confusion. He was also standing up, next to

Starscream. The three forms looked about, thoroughly bewildered. All Barricade remembered was trying to fight off Ironhide while contained in the frame of a door and then waking up

to see Ironhide in pieces. Bumblebee remembered running down a hall and then he passed out, coming to here. Starscream recalled only witnessing Ironhide trying to pry

Barricade from the door entrance and then suddenly blackness, then he was here.

There was a mechanized moan as Ironhide began coming to, then he sat straight up. As the others stared at him, he had only one object in his line of sight: Barricade. "You idiot!

You almost got us caught- " -With that he lunged himself at Barricade and there was a commotion of scrapes and crashing metal as his huge torso hit the floor. Bumblebee cringed

from the impact as Ironhide found himself "sitting" on the floor, but not sitting. He looked way too short and his bulky arms were splayed out on either side of him. It didn't make

any sense; his arms were simply too long for them to have this close reach with the surface. He suddenly realized that half of him was missing. His bottom half, but he wasn't in

any pain. Still he was mortified. "Where's the rest of you?" Barricade was as dismayed as the others. "MY LEGS!" Ironhide cried out in panic. "My butt! Wha...? Oh no..!" He began a frantic

search dragging himself about on his powerful arms. Barricade found his lower extremities on another table arranged in a fashion as if they were being analyzed in some way.

Starscream was busy laughing and Bumblebee, while daring not to laugh aloud was straining to keep his agonized snickers in check. "This isn't funny!" Ironhide rumbled angrily.

"Why are my parts up there? What did you do to me?" he demanded of Barricade. "I didn't do this. Maybe there's something wrong with the way you move so it's being worked on."

The mustang-bot theorized. Ironhide realized the time on the wall clock had changed. It now read 5:45 PM and not 3:30 AM in the morning as he had told Starscream. What on earth

was going on? He had grabbed Barricade then-he fell asleep. Only to wake up in this completely inappropriate state. There were dozens of nodes attached to Ironhide's legs running

to what looked like a computer. Surely he would be put back together, right?

Starscream decided to take control. "Let's all get away from here for a bit." he suggested.

"And go where?" asked Bumblebee. "Just out. Hey, I'll show you how awesome a flier I am" Starscream grinned wryly with overconfidence.

**Obviously Screamer forgets it's just a movie.**


	3. I Believe I Can Fly

**Now, could Starscream be onto something bigger than him? Than all of them? Even the human world of Hollywood?**

"I'm not going anywhere like this," Ironhide began in a panic. "now, put me back together. NOW." "Yew don't have much of a choice. Besides, how do you plan to resist...swipe at my

feet?" Starscream mocked, referring to Ironhide still sitting on the floor on his chassis, erupting into raucous laughter. He baby-stepped backwards as the severed black mech advanced

forward, pulling himself along with his hands. Sparks flew as his waist dragged along the surface. He tried powering up his cannon on one arm while balancing himself on the other but

found it cumbersome. Even Bumblebee could no longer contain his amusement. "Get that smile off your face before I knock it off." Ironhide shot him a glance. "With what? By swinging

your torso at him? Starscream really couldn't resist picking on him. Bumblebee covered a threatening grin with a finger. Ironhide quit moving and stared at the seeker. "Y' know,

you and I got a real problem, you know that?" he stated. "Where are you taking me?" Before he realized it Starscream had picked him up and took him outside. He simply barraged his

way outside, leaving a pile of destruction behind him. Clearly no weakling, he was able to accomplish what Barricade could not. The latter and the yellow camaro followed him outside.

"What are you doing?" Bumblebee questioned. "Did you see those aerial moves I executed on screen? I AM a seeker; I was not built to stay on the ground!" Starscream gleamed with

pride at the thought that someone was considerate enough to not design him to conform to gravity.

"But you said we were animatronic sculptures, remember? We can't really DO anything. And now you're having delusions of grandeur?" Barricade reminded him. "We are supposed to

be inanimate, yes but, we are somehow ALIVE. Doesn't that tell you something? Perhaps we are not just objects built for the humans' viewing fancies after all! Something is happening

here, and I for one intend to find out what it is. I take it back, Barricade, perhaps there IS more to us than animatronic gadgets. Yes, we were built by humans but look at us, were are

all alive. ALIVE! Just like in the film. All of us slipped into involuntary recharge and came to, time lost is unaccounted for."Starscream went into a philosophical rant, losing Barricade. "And

just what does that have to do with flying?" "Don't you see Barricade? The three of you were built to remain earth vehicles, but I, Starscream, was fashioned after the world's greatest

fighter jet. I am NOT just a bunch of parts welded together, I refuse to believe this after what just happened. We are alive. And if I am alive, I should truly be able to fly. I know I can!"

Despite Ironhide's protests, Starscream had tightened his grip on him and tossed him into the air. As he did, he attempted to perform the stunt as filmed in Mission City where, after

attacking Rachet and Ironhide, he leapt backwards over Sam's head, transformed in mid-air before taking flight. Only he intended to catch Ironhide in his cockpit. He succeeded in the.

impressive backflip, confidently expecting his raptor transformation at any moment. The parking lot looked like it was getting suspiciously closer and closer as Starscream casually let his

arms and legs splay out in all directions. Any minute now... Ironhide, who had been screaming in terror the whole way down, had his eyes locked on the unmoving form of Starscream

below him. The jet robot was lying with his limbs splayed out, a massive crater in the asphalt where his frame impacted. The hole in the ground beneath him was perfectly molded to his

shape. As his hulking form drew larger signaling impending collision, Ironhide braced himself, yelling nonstop. There was a silver blur, sounds of Bumblebee and Barricade

shouting...darkness.

Blackness. A dark void, voices of concern. Groaning painfully, Starscream came to, optics focusing on the blurred ground before him. "Are you okay?" Bumblebee asked with concern,

as he went to pull a lighting stand that fell on the then-unconscious seeker. "Uuuuuuh," was Starscream's only groggy reply. A series of loud clangs heralded an incensed Ironhide

whacking the side of Starscream's wing. Ironhide lay where he fell after rolling off of the decepticon, too overcome with emotion to care how he looked position-wise. "YOU STUPID

BASTARD! WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO DEACTIVATE ME? You wann'a terminate yourself have it but don't take me with you!" Barricade pulled Ironhide back as the seeker slowly

made his way up. His mind was elsewhere to pay heed to Ironhide. "I did it wrong, maybe I'm supposed to think of flying and it will happen." he muttered more to himself than to his

comrades. "Yes! Then I will!" He bounded off, the ground quaking beneath him. "Starscream come back here!" Barricade pleaded as he followed suit, scooping Ironhide up with him. Only

when they made it to the other side of the studio did they spot Starscream on top of the studio, preparing to jump. "No-DON'T!" Bumblebee called as he caught up with the others. It

was too late. With a roar of "I can fly!" and a Hail-Mary move, Starscream launched his enormous form into the air in a front flip. _**'I am a flyer, I CAN transform. **__**I am ALIVE. FLY!'**_

__he thought furiously. Before he could right himself he saw the ground coming up fast and let out a roar of unrestrained panic..all..the...way...to... black oblivion. Too angry to be knocked

out entirely, he immediately came online, rose up in defiance, once again leapt on top of the building.

"Starscream stop it!" But the seeker's mind was set. If he was alive, really "living" and not just something built to entertain moviegoers, he was determined to find out his true purpose.


	4. Try Again

Starscream bent his head in frustration, covering his claw-like digits over his deformed face. Maybe he was nothing more than welded material, made for the sole purpose of serving as a

motion picture robotic prop. But if this was the case, then how was he alive? Not alive in a human sense, but ALIVE, in his own way. Like humans, he felt emotion, just right now when

he was upset about not flying. You couldn't be "inanimate" if you could feel things. Not just in the physical sense but deep inside him. The others were silent, watching him. They, too,

understood at this moment that there was something more to them than what they were. Highly expensive parts meticulously put together over many months, even years. They didn't

know exactly how they came to be animated because no humans were around when they were "awake" and it always seemed that they "woke" up in different places of the movie

studio. And none of them knew quite how they got there, nor did they care. They simply came to and went about their curious exploration of the studio, fascinated with this

"Transformers" film that involved them all. But today's events—or early this morning—had stirred something in them as they took the seeker's words in. Bumblebee was the first to

approach him quietly. "Starscream...why don't you come back inside? Maybe...it will take time for your flight mechanism to take form." "Inside." Starscream repeated in a quite tone of

pain that didn't fit his usually upbeat character._** Maybe you are right**_, Barricade. Starscream thought. _**I **__**had delusions of grandeur.**_ Aside from being a natural showoff, he really did

believe he was flight-capable. He still believed it somewhat. Perhaps Bumblebee was right as well; maybe this would take time. "Ironhide I'm sorry." Aside from being arrogant, I

truly thought I could do it.

Ironhide's only response was an understanding smile etching across his mouth. Likewise he felt pity, he knew Starscream long enough to know that when he was wrong about

something, he had a hard time admitting it. He also knew the seeker had a good point about all of this. There had to be a reason why they were here communicating with each other.

"S'alright." He responded quietly. Starscream started towards the studio entrance then halted, surveying the massive mess he made. He had the strength, he had the heart. But he had

no ability to truly take to the sky. He was blinded by light...Blackness. Everything black. As he awoke, he was lying out in the parking lot strapped to what looked like a huge crane. He

couldn't move even his arms that dangled freely as he hung upside down. Below him were humans, dozens of them, running. Trotting. Jogging. Walking briskly and shouting all sorts

cursewords and orders. Starscream's optics were wide awake. He could clearly make out the commotion below him but he could talk no more than he could move. Ironhide was back on a

table, this time outside where he too could see what was going on. The humans seemed to be in an uproar about the destruction the first crew had discovered. Several parked police

cars indicated that it was serious enough to warrant law enforcement presence. A tall, calm mannered man entered the scene, taking in everything around him. "Mr. Bay, we think

someone tried to break in the studio and steal the robotic props. We found Starry out here, the others scattered about. Damn thing way too heavy for them to steal, I guess." Another

man walked up to him. Mr. Bay jerked his head in his direction at the sound of his voice. "Steal? The robots?" he repeated in dismay. "And the surveillence shows nothing?" Starscream

glared from above, accutely aware of what the conversation was about. He did not appreciate being called "starry". Whatever that was. It made him sound female.

To the globs of tissue and fluids he appeared to be nothing more than a humanoid metallic sculpture dangling above them, lifeless. Clearly they had no idea that the triangle-like

behemoth above them could hear them. My name is not "Starry" you flesh-blob. And I'm not 'just a robot' ! Mr. Bay's right-hand continued to brief him. "I know, they're not even real

robots. They're just animatronic props, they don't even have the intellgence of a robot. Geez, the things some people do. Somebody wanted these things bad to wanna' cause this much

damage to the studio. It's almost like they used dynamite to get in. Whoever they were they took out the security cameras; they show nothing." Could have been some obscessed

fan boys, who knows. Get in to take a picture with these guys." Starscream couldn't help but inwardly smile, even if he couldn't show it. "Well, obviously, they were way more than

they could handle. Too heavy, I'm guessing that's why they aborted this robbery. That one alone is well over one ton." Mr. Bay necked in the direction of Starscream. "And they must have

just left Ironhide once they realized he was worthless without his legs; they're still inside. But he's pretty dented. It's like somebody dropped him on his ass almost. "Yeah, thanks alot."

Ironhide muttered as he shot Starscream a death glare. "Nothing the prop crew can't fix. We'll get on it." The aid said. "And get his legs back on too, I need him whole for today's shots."

Mr. Bay added. "Yeah!" was the response. The director shook his head at the wreck that was his studio. He was having surveillence upgrade done, as well as hiring night security guards.

"Okay Starlight let's get you back inside." Starscream heard his new nickname and managed to glimpse the offender as the crane slowly rotated around. It was the same nuisance that

called him Starry before. As the crane operator shifted gears the playful grown man couldn't resist. He struck the same classic pose the 2007 movie Starscream-HIM. He stood, back

arched, attempting to make his head as small as possible against his chesk, arms outstretched. He stood on the balls of his feet, attempting to bend his legs in like of the Starscream

pose. "I AM STARSCREAM!" he bellowed. "Ain't that right Starry!" he lost his balance and beamed proudly. "You was always my favorite man." he grinned sincerely. Starscream dismissed

his grattitude. _Screw you, human_. He just wanted to get back to his friends. He was deposited quite gently, upright somewhere on the outside. There was a time when he and the others

woke up only when no one was around. For the first time, he and Ironhide could sense the humans' presence-IN their presence. Something was making them unique.


	5. Oh Crap

Starscream watched on in undetected secrecy as his massive frame was gingerly stood upright, slowly positioned into a manner that allowed him to stand slightly leaning against the wall

he was next to. He had figured out, as did Ironhide that he could now see everything going on around him while it was obvious that all of the humans below him were completely

oblivious to the fact that "he", rather "it", from their standpoint as self-aware, conscious, and keen to his/its existence. He did notice how they took extreme caution in handling him and

his mechanical comrades; to him it clearly had to do with their sizes. It was simply too much to transport him manually or even by truck, hence the crane. Save for the one nit wit most of

them, the seeker had noticed, referred to him and the others as "him"s and "he"s. They kept calling them by name, as if they could come to life and talk back. Little did Starscream and

Ironhide know that some of those who built the robots, they weren't just "its". They had names and such humans treated them almost as if they were real. It's just that none of the

animitron props had ever witnessed it as they were never "aware" around humans. Until now, that was. Starscream was distracted from his observations as he heard the obnoxious glee

of the earlier human that nicknamed him. "There you go Starlight, now you're tall and proud as you should be. You're too magnificent to be on the asphalt like that. You got a fucked-up

face I won't lie about that but you're still my idol." The man muttered.

If Starscream could he would have grabbed man by his leg and flung into the horizon. "Most of you all are mostly CGI, you know, computer animation. You guys were built to give us a

start on it all, plus it's cool to have something like you around. It'd be kinda cool if you really were real and I know I sound like a nutcase standing out here talking to an inanimate object,

but I'm crazy like that." he rambled on, with Starscream praying to Great Primus that he'd shut up. What the man said next however fully got Starscream's undivided attention: "You guys

will always be real to me, even it it's just in my heart." the man suddenly looked forlorn as he gave Starscream one final gaze. Starscream detected a hint of sincerity in his statement.

"Hey Stew, c'mon man, we gotta get this place up and running again!" a co-worker called. So that was his name, Stew. Starscream grunted to himself. What kind of name is "Stew?".

Stew turned and looked "Yeah!" he responded. "Well, we gonna take good care of your friend, don't worry. Get his legs back on him and get him up...see you later Starscream." Stew's

face turned unusually somber after he flashed a brief smile. It vanished almost as quickly as it appeared before he turned around and headed in the hangar where Ironhide was.

Starscream watched perplexed. Okay, so maybe the human wasn't so bad after all.

Ironhide's optical irises were wide as he watched the ceiling above him. Although he couldn't move he could clearly see shapes moving around him, people, and in his line of vision he

could see Bumblebee in the corner also awake. "They can't see us", the black veteran bot thought to himself as he felt nimble hands reattaching his last leg on. He could feel everything

happening to him, from screws being tightened to bolts and nuts being adjusted to wired being twisted. Stew was the only one remaining; talking to himself as usual, or rather, talking to

Ironhide as if he were another person. "You know, that big-ass hole in the concrete out there, it's almost as if somebody took Starscream up in the air and dropped him, while you, my

friend, look as though you got slammed into a wall. Some brazen crooks there to try to steal you guys; you guys are real expensive to build. But, I think the big dogs at the top know

that," he groaned as he rose up off the floor where he was, stretching. "I mean, this is a studio, it has surveillance camera n' things, that oddly enough didn't capture anything because

they got took out. So it's extra security now. You guys are real pretty too, gorgeous, so I suppose I can understand why someone would want to take you. Although it would've been hard

getting you on the road without being noticed you know. Yeah I'm talking to you like you're alive because to me, you guys are. In my little fantasy world at least, it breaks up the

monotony of living such a fucked-up existence when you can pretend, dream, you know."

The man muttered absently while bending to pick up a screwdriver from the floor. Ironhide wanted so badly to reveal himself but he couldn't move or speak. Bumblebee's eyes closed, his

optic lids causing a barely audible whine similar to that made by a camera shutter taking a picure. Stew looked behind him in Bumblebee's direction. Still believing he was undetected by

the human, Bumblebee's eye shutters narrowed like the pupils of human eyes, as he focused on Ironhide's legs. Only this time, Stew saw them. Just as he was rising up off the floor, he

chose that very moment to look in Bumblebee's direction and halted in mid-position. That yellow one Bumblebee-he saw it. His eyes a soft blue glow illuminating like sapphires gazing

shyly around the room like a curious newborn. Stew crouched still as a statue. At first he suspected he was hallucinating as he had gone out last night, had too many drinks and spent

the rest of the night with a terrible hangover. His mind was still reeling from the alcohol; that had to be it. He was still hungover, so as the last remnants of the toxic cognac left his system

it was screwing with his mind, he was sure of it. There's no WAY that thing just moved...did it? He thought to himself. He didn't dare move. But three words came out of his throat in

perfect falsetto, accompanied by an open-mouthed gape that made him look as though he had just had the mother of orgasms: "WHAT the.._**FUCK**_?" The fledgling autobot realized he had

been seen, and froze. Partially from surprise and more from fear of how the human would react, Bumblebee's eyes locked onto him, his highly expressive brow plates etched fearfully.

"Oh no." he whispered under his breath. Ironhide realized, as did Starscream, Stew saw Bumblebee move. Their secret was out.


End file.
